it has weakened to a category two hurricane maximum sustained winds 110 miles per hour. the good news is with this off shore track it means the strongest part of the storm, the northeast quadrant remains over the ocean but it's very close, it's only 40 miles east of jacksonville so this track also keeps hammering the coast and we do have some about he what wases we can zoom in give you some live data. this shows right near jacksonville winds gusting up to 52 miles per hour and a big concern with georgia and south carolina will be the storm surge. as far as the peak wind gusts, the peak wind gusts reported in cape canaveral 107 miles per hour but got to kind of qualify that. that was taken from a tower 50 feet above the surface. surface winds generally right along florida about 65 to 75 miles per hour, so those hurricane force winds right now it's moving north at 12 miles per hour. now, if it kept that course, it would be hitting the coast of south carolina. however, it looks like it will start to make that turn to the northeast. so, just skimming the coast of georgia, south carolina, weakening to a category one hurricane as it does and then heading out to sea and it still looks like there's a possibility that matthew could drive down to the south as a tropical system perhaps head through the bahamas and even skim southern florida early next week. i'll talk more about the storm's impact, also track some rain our way this weekend coming up in the full accuweather forecast. jim. >> thank you cecily. let's talk about travel. flights from south florida got up and running again this afternoon. passengers from miami and fort lauderdale started arriving in philadelphia just about an hour ago. orlando expects limited service beginning tomorrow. but airports from jacksonville, florida, to charlton, south carolina are still closed tonight. matthew devastated the impoverished caribbean nation of haiti. the government is reporting nearly 300 deaths but there are reports that there could be hundreds more. tens of thousands of others are now homeless and crops have been destroyed. our coverage of hurricane matthew continues on 6abc.com and the 6abc news app with live streaming video from locations within the storm zone, photographs of flooding and wind damage and a hurricane tracker to monitor matthew's progress and that is the hurricane story to the moment. other news at this hour. if you fill up your car in new jersey, get ready to pay another 23 cents a gallon. the legislature passed the hike in the gas tax today and sent the legislation to governor christie. live at the statehouse in trenton is new jersey correspondent nora muchanic. nora, new jersey gas will still be less than pennsylvania but not by nearly as much as it is now. >> reporter: not so much, jim. new jersey used to have the second he lowest gas tax in the country behind alaska. now we'll have about the seventh highest. legislators who voted for this compromise legislation seemed to be holding their noses but say the increase is necessary to pay for desperately needed road and bridge repairs. get ready. before long drivers will be paying 23 cents more a gallon for gas in new jersey. that's after state legislators passed a bipartisan package of bills to finance the transportation trust fund which pays to build and repair roads bridges and mass transit. >> we have an obligation. our infrastructure is crumbling here in new jersey. the statistics are one of the worst in the names it's $32 billion for new jersey when you talk about the federal match to put into our infrastructure which is not had a dime put into it for 20 years. >> we come up with a compromise. i don't think anybody is absolutely totally satisfied with but it's the best we could with the governor. >> reporter: to offset the pain of that gas tax hike lawmakers agreed to the governor's demand to lower the sales tax slightly as well as income taxes for he retirees and veterans. the estate tax will be eliminated altogether. >> it blows a $1.5 billion hole in the budget. >> reporter: senator ray less knee -- lesniak opposes it. >> 23 cents for a people who are struggling to stay in the state is simply too high for a gallon. >> there's nothing fair about it bought it's the people who are making the least that are going to be suffering the most. >> reporter: aaa estimates the gas tax hike will cost the average driver in new jersey $170 a year. no surprise here people want improved roads but they don't want a jump in gas prices. >> i think it's terrible. i don't want my gas price to go up. that would be awful. >> reporter: jim, new jersey hasn't hiked the gas tax in 28 years. the bill now goes to the governor's desk for signature and we should be seeing those higher prices at the pump by november 1st. live at the statehouse in trenton, i'm nora muchanic channel6 "action news." >> thank you nora. minutes ago the philadelphia parking authority started a sting operation against illegal ride hailing services. yesterday a judge ordered uber x and lyft to stop operating in philadelphia. customers will not be fined for ordering the service but drivers could face substantial fines and have their cars confiscated. the woman accused of setting a house fire that claimed the lives of two wilmington firefighters was in court this morning. at her preliminary hearing investigators say 28-year-old beatriz fana ruiz started the fire. she told them she had been drinking and was on antianxiety medication tractor-trailer family of jerry fickes and christopher leach were in court at the time. the school district of philadelphia announced it's expanding drinking water testing to every school in the city. chad pradelli is live at elementary. >> reporter: jim for the most part the results are favorable but not here at holme elementary where the district says 11 water fountains had unacceptable levels of lead. >> my heart is pounding. you send your kids to school. you don't think anything will happen. >> reporter: jasmine worries about her three children who attend holme elementary. the school district released water fountain test water levels that found 11 fountains had higher levels than the safety threshold. two had over 53 parts per billion. >> we immediately shut off any outlets that are above the actionable levellism fran burns is chief operating officer of the philadelphia school district. she says 26 of 40 schools have been tested. they're considered high risk schools because of age and other factors. more than 85 percent of the water fountains tested this year have acceptable levels of lead. however, three schools of note ,. overbrook high school 87 bethune elementary, 64.3. >> would any of those students have been at risk of lead poisoning. >> no. the best thing i can say there is to when you get the letter, we have some information to educate yourself. we don't believe this cause for alarm. >> reporter: a letter has been sent to parents at affected schools. it reads in part if you're concerned about your child's possible lead exposure risks the philadelphia department of public health recommends contacting your pediatrician or neighborhood health center for testing. >> i have three children who go to this school. now i'm thinking about the effects on them. >> reporter: right. >> what can i do? >> reporter: and the school district tells me all of the water fountains that were found to have unacceptable levels of lead have been remediated or taken out of service. now if you want to see the full set of test results you can go to our web side at 6abc.com. i'm live in northeast philadelphia, chad pradelli channel6 "action news." jim. >> thank you chad. atlantic city is offering early he retirement buyouts to more than 160 workers to try and get its finances back on track. part of the fiscal recovery plan aimed at avoiding a takeover by the state. 70 police officers and 36 firefighters are among those eligible for the buyouts. atlantic city is at least $500 million in debt. last week city officials announced the sale of baeder field for $100 million. coming up on "action news" tonight, upper darby native tina fey receives a big honor from temple university and the eagles get ready to take on the detroit lions after their bye week layoff. >> hurricane matthew continues barreling up the southeast coast causing wave heights 15 feet a dangerous storm surge. i'll talk more about the hurricane and also the timing of showers here over the weekend in the accuweather 7-day forecast. >> and i'll talk with vice president joe biden at his campaign stop today in bristol bucks county when "action news" continues. when i was one year old, i was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer on my spinal chord. but i spent my whole life fighting back. so you can imagine what i thought when i saw donald trump say... "i don't know what i said, ah, i don't remember!" "that reporter he is talking about suffers from a chronic condition that impairs movement of his arms." i don't want a president who makes fun of me. i want a president who inspires me, and that's not donald trump. priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> ♪ >> vice president joe biden brought the campaign trail to bucks county community college today. political analysts say that if hillary clinton wins bucks county, she'll win the state and then the presidency. after the rally i talked one-on-one with the vice president. i asked about the upcoming debate sunday night and what clinton could do better. >> i remember at the democratic national convention and we talked and i asked you what does hillary clinton have to do in her acceptance speech and you said talk from the heart. she does have trouble doing that. >> she does have trouble doing that but i know her heart. for example the closest she came in the debate with -- when she talks from the heart it's well she's playing the woman card. when she was talking about trump's policies and said and all those people that he laid off and he quote i think she used the word stiff heed and he said well maybe they didn't do the job and she said i watched my dad leaning over a silk screen doing draperies, guys like that. i felt like that was a real connection. i think people sort of got like oh, god, she really -- she really gets it. and -- but you know what, it's hard -- it's hard for her. and, you know, guys like me get a pass. she doesn't. >> more from the interview at 11 o'clock including biden's bet with barack obama over the eagles-bears game last month. you don't think they're competitive? donald trump was back in new york today to receive the endorsement of the national border patrol council. hours after that meeting video from 2005 was leaked showing trump speaking in lewd and vulgar terms about women using language that we can't repeat. he quickly issued a statement saying he apologizes if anybody was offended. trump and clinton will meet again sunday night in saint louis for the second presidential debate. 44 new police officers took the pledge to protect and serve today in mercer county. the 15th class of the mercer county police academy graduated in west wind sore. the recruits completed 21 weeks of extensive training and are now ready to serve the community. upper darby's favorite daughter received a big honor today. temple university presented comedian tina fey with its annual lew kline excellence in media today. she sid her success can be traced to three things her family television. >> sent my pictures to dear old captain noah. fantastic. i seethed with jealousy watching the al alberts showcase. >> fay also recalled dressing as sally starr for halloween, this is the 16th year for temple's awards. >> eagles looking to go four and o detroit lions. >> can't wait for this sunday eagles-lions. this defense may be without one of their best players up front. eagles coach doug pederson knocked on wood on wednesday hoping everyone would stay healthy. it didn't work. defensive tackle benny logan misses practice today and is questionable for sunday against the lions with a calf injury. even on a nice day the eagles practicing inside trying to simulate the noise at ford field. pederson says he likes the energy and mind-set of carson wentz and this team coming off the bye. he believes they're ready to roll into detroit. >> i think they understand that it's still a long season. they're excited obviously for where we are but by no means are they satisfied with just being three and o. the goal obviously is to win the next game and we just take it one game at a time but it's been a good week. >> well all eyes have been on wentz flying under the radar the eagles d which has not allowed a passing touchdown this late in the season in 82 years. espn's ron jaworski has more. >> ♪ >> they're very focused. a very focused total team. and you know we really haven't spent a whole lot of time talking about the defense. you know, carson wentz great but it really has been the defense that's been the constant through three games and if the defense continues to play the way it's playing, the eagles will be in every game. >> the flyers open the regular season a week from tonight and oh, no, not again, yet another injury. defenseman michael del zotto will miss four to five weeks with a lower body injury. flyers without brandon manning and scott laughton. short-handed flyers maybe they can call an old timer out of retimer. kimmo timonen playing street hock he key on the us s murtha. after missing two seasons joel embiid didn't know what to expect for the first -- to ht the floor for the first time. he thought he would ged booed. not a shot. he says embiid will be their folk cull point go to guy on offense and defense. he scored 11 points in 25 minutes. and from the ovation last night look everybody wants to see embiid do well. >> that's philadelphia. isn't it? it's like they -- they extend a big hug to joel. >> i thought that when he they introduced me the ovation was pretty good and so it was exciting. >> dar dario saric got a nice start. sixers play lebron and the cavs in a preseason game tomorrow. >> chase utley will take another swing at a world series ring as the dodgers open the playoffs in washington against jayson werth and the nationals. dodgers up one right now. in the american league cleveland up five-nothing on boston in the american league divisional series. in the another alds toronto's edward encarnacion does it again. encarnacion the solo homer third of the inning. j.a. happ and take a five-three win in game two. high school huddle. high school football action tonight on "action news" after "action news" at 11:00 plymouth whitemarsh at upper dublin is the game of the week. we'll have our very own cecily tynan throwing the football a spiral a strike right on target again tonight. >> god willing. >> and cecily tynan will have there accuweather story when we continue in just a moment. >> ♪ planned parenthood. i would support legislation in pennsylvania that would ban abortion and i would suggest we have penalties for doctors who perform them. would you put people in jail for performing abortions? at some point doctors performing abortions i think would be subject to that sort of penalty. dscc is responsible for the content of this advertising. katie v/she stays late.rd. but she gets paid 21% less than her male coworkers. pat toomey has voted time after time against equal pay for women, against pay that helps hard working families get ahead. katie o/c: for my daughters and yours, i'll fight for equal pay for women. families need it; you've earned it. katie v/o: i'm katie mcginty, and i approve this message because it's your turn to get ahead. >> a lot of talking about hurricane matthew but we have a local forecast. >> that's right. we have some rain on the way over the weekend. not tonight though. storm tracker6 live double scan slowing no rain out there this evening. however, we have been dealing with increasing high thin clouds. started the day with the bright sunshine blue skies. now the center city skyline showing that we are getting some thin cirrus clouds really in advance of matthew streaming up from the south and these clouds will continue to thicken as we head through the overnight hours. temperature-wise though felt great today. our high 78 degrees. that's a full 8 degrees above average. right now 71 in philadelphia, allentown a mild 74, trenton 69 with the winds off the ocean it is cooler along the beaches, cape may currently 66. so satellite6 along with action radar showing the clouds streaming up from the south there's moisture down there and also a cold front moving in from the west. these two systems combine tomorrow afternoon and evening and that will bring us some rain. tonight though should be a dry night with the clouds increasing, kind of an atmospheric blanket so not as cool as the past several nights. 51 degrees in the cooler suburbs, about 59 degrees for center city and future tracker showing wake up tomorrow morning, the clouds are here. it's pretty thick, pretty gray start to the day. looks like the rain should be holding off for the bulk of it. the afternoon and evening hours looks like the steadiest rain will be across south jersey and delaware. on saturday evening and sunday will be a transition day. some showers right along the coast early sunday morning. lots of clouds but as we head through the day a west wind will clear the clouds out gradually from the west to the east bring us back the sunshine. it will be breezy he though and cooler. tropical satellite showing we've got two tropical systems. we've got tropical storm nicole. it was a cat two hurricane yesterday. now it's weakened. this is just going to meander out there. no threat to land but nicole is one factor that could help steer matthew south as a tropical storm once it rolls off the carolina coast. right now maximum sustained winds with matthew 110 miles per hour so it's a category two hurricane. it's still about 40 miles off the coast and future tracker showing looks like it will just be skimming the coast of georgia, south carolina through the day tomorrow with heavy rain with high winds. also some heavy rain expected across parts of southern virginia, north carolina by saturday night before it heads out to sea and possibly does that loop. the main problem with this storm will be the storm surge. storm surge expected in south carolina and georgia six to 9 feet and that could cause a lot of coastal flooding so this hurricane warnings are in effect really from daytona beach to wilmington north carolina. so the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast, tomorrow cloudy with some afternoon and evening showers. generally about a tenth to a quarter of an inch. not a lot of rain with a high of 70. sunday morning clouds, afternoon sun. it's breezy, it's cooler 66 degrees. and monday columbus day, wall to wall sunshine but a little bit on the chilly side with a high of 65. on tuesday partly sunny, 67, a dry start to yom kippur. possibility of a few showers wednesday. on the otherwise clouds mixing with sun 70. budget up to 71 degrees on thursday. friday seasonable partly sunny with a high of 68 degrees. of course there's a new update and an updated track coming from the national hurricane center at 11:00. i'll have it on "action news tonight. >> thank you cecily. abc's "world news tonight" with david muir is next on channel6. "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl17 with brian taff sharrie williams adam joseph and ducis rodgers. then please join us for "action news" at 11:00 here on channel6. for cecily tynan, jeff skversky, ducis rodgers and the entire "action news" team, i'm jim gardner. we hope you'll join us for "action "action news" at 11:00. pat toomey owned both. but it's the fact that toomey owns a seat in the u.s. senate that should really concern us. while on the senate banking committee, pat toomey voted to rewrite rules to help bankers like him ...and he tried to eliminate protections put in place to stop wall street's risky practices. pat toomey: looking out for wall street and himself, not pennsylvania. senate majority pac is responsible for the content of this advertising. c'mohappy birthday! i survived a heart attack. i'm doing all i can to keep from having another one. and i'm taking brilinta. for people who've been hospitalized for a heart attack. i take brilinta with a baby aspirin. no more than one hundred milligrams as it affects how well it works. brilinta helps keep my platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. brilinta reduced the chance of another heart attack. or dying from one. it worked better than plavix. >>don't stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. don't take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. tell your doctor about bleeding, new or unexpected shortness of breath, any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. >>talk to your doctor about brilinta. i'm doing all i can. that includes brilinta. if you can't afford your medication, astra zeneca may be able to help. tonight, breaking news. hurricane matthew slamming ashore. right here in jacksonville. the monster storm battering florida right now. the dangerous winds, blinding rain, downed power lines. the storm sparking fires. this home completely destroyed. more than a million people plunged into darkness. the hurricane blasting florida. a possible hit on georgia and south carolina next. the life threatening storm surge. waves smashing right into homes. >> so please evacuate even if it's to a shelter. tonight, we fly you right into the eye of the storm with the hurricane hunters. inside the cockpit. their new warning tonight for millions in florida, georgia, and the carolinas. and the other breaking story tonight. explosive new audio discovered of donald trump. what he says about women. >> when you're a star, they let you do it. >> you will hear it for yourself.